Working Through the Static
by jasperwright
Summary: The new kid in town, Forensic Biologist/Entomologist, Dr. Taryn Emily Wright is thrown into the crazy, overworked life of a Jeffersonian Scientist. But with a little humor from Hodgins and some romance from Booth and Brennan, she might be able handle it.
1. Welcome to the Jeffersonian

_Monday, November 24_

_**5:44am**_

**A shapely figure of a human being mindlessly rolled from one side of the bed to the other. **

_**BAM BAM BAM. **_

The figure stirred again and grabbed a pillow to place directly over the ears.

_**BAM BAM BAM BAM. **_

Another pillow.

_**BAM BAM BAM. **_

It was evident now that the incessant knocking could no longer be ignored. "Hold on. I'll be there in a minute." The voice was calm and shy. Every word seemed to be carefully selected and spoken. Bolt lock. Pad lock. Door knob lock. Slide lock. Finally the door was opened to reveal a young, bearded man fairly short in stature. His features were strong and his eyes were kind and welcoming.

"Good morning! Dr. Wright?"

"Yes, sir."

"Whoa, no need for the formality, Doc!"

"Thus far you have confused me already. But if there's no need for formality, you may call me Taryn instead of Doctor."

"Alright, Taryn, I'm Dr. Hodgins but you can call me Jack. Though I would suggest the formality of Dr. Hodgins at work at least for a few weeks." The young woman standing in front of Hodgins had had an air of confidence around her up until that moment. Her powerful hazel eyes glanced to the floor in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Dr. Hodgins. I was just trying to be easy going."

"No need to be sorry, Taryn. Just a little first day jitters. Don't try to step out of your shell too much yet. Try to be yourself and you'll be fine. Come on, I don't want you to be late for your first day!"

Taryn ran to her closet and grabbed a black overcoat. Then she realized she forgot to brush her teeth. In a dash to the bathroom, she knocked over her living room lamp and it shattered on the floor.

"Taryn, what are you doing? We gotta go! If I'm late, I'll probably be in more trouble then you!" He took a step into the doorway and almost ran into the hurried Taryn.

"Sorry, Dr. Hodgins. I forgot to brush my teeth."

"Oh, well, that's important. Come on. We're gonna have to hope that we beat the bell on this one."

_5:58am_

As soon as the vehicle was parked, Hodgins and Taryn jumped out of the vehicle as if it were on fire. Hodgins ran around the vehicle and gave Taryn a light push towards the garage elevator.

"We're gonna have make a run for it! Go!"

Hodgins laughed with a grin from ear to ear. Going to work hadn't been this exhilarating to him for quite sometime. Then again, he was always punctual, so having to sprint in order to clock in on time was new to him. Trailing closely behind Taryn, he gave her a couple friendly shoves. Once they reached the front door Hodgins grabbed Taryn by the shoulders and forced her to an abrupt halt.

"Now, try and breath deeply and get some control before you meet your new boss. This way." They walked to the left of the door and Hodgins swiped his ID at the clock in station. He lead her towards the autopsy room, where he was fairly certain he would find Cam. A quick glance back at Taryn immediately revealed that she was visibly nervous and slightly pale. He stopped her again in front of the autopsy room.

"Listen, _Dr. Wright, _you're going to be fine. Remember what I told you?" She pursed her lips together and nodded weakly. "Well, do that. Dr. Saroyan is very cool. Just do your job, work hard, and do what you do best--whatever that is." Taryn nodded again and they walked into the autopsy room. Cam was seated at the counter on the far wall writing what appeared to be reports. _Whew, good thing she's not working on a body. _Hodgins sighed heavily but not intentionally out loud.

"Dr. Hodgins, I know that sigh when I hear it." She spoke without even looking up from her work. That was a good indicator that she was having or was going to have an incredibly busy day.

"I brought your new intern to meet you."

"Dr. Hodgins, I thought I told you that I wanted my new intern to come in on the 24th! Today is the worst possible day for me to have an intern which is why I said the 24th." She turned in the swivel chair she was seated in to face Hodgins and give him a look of reprimand.

"Uh, Cam, it is the 24th." Cam grinned and started to chuckle a little.

"I'm sorry Hodgins. I just came in about an hour ago and I am swamped. Can you just take her for the day. Besides, I think she does more of that buggy, fungus business." Taryn braved a step towards Cam and she even managed to smile.

"Actually Dr. Saroyan, I deal more with the human body. But I do have a Master's degree in biology," She paused and tried to think of what else to say. "But I like fungus!" Cam had to hold back a laugh at the intern's outburst.

"Well, that's good because today you'll be hanging out with Dr. Hodgins here. He practically bathes in fungus all day long."

"I _bathe _in fungus, Cam? I examine fungi, bugs, and particulates to, you know, link evidence to crimes and such. I wouldn't say that you bathe in human guts all day long."

"Fair enough." She walked towards Taryn and held out her hand. "I'm Dr. Camille Saroyan. I head up the place. You got a problem with anyone or anything here, come to me. I'm your boss, but if you need anything, I'm here to talk. If you keep your head up and work hard, you'll be just fine here. Sorry for the mix-up today. You'll be in here with me tomorrow. For today, I'll let Dr. Hodgins show you the ropes."

Taryn shook Cam's outstretched hand and replaced both hands to a soldier-like position at her side.

"It's a great pleasure to meet you, Dr. Saroyan. My name is Taryn Wright. I have a doctorate in biochemistry and I'm working on my second doctorate in entomology."

"Glad to have you on board, Dr. Wright. Make sure you give her a rundown of the whole place….Fungus Bather." She smirked at Hodgins as he rolled his eyes and led Taryn out of the autopsy room.

"So, what do you think, Taryn?"

"Of Dr. Saroyan? She's not as intimidating as I had preconceived. But still a workhorse. I expect I will be aptly challenged." Hodgins let forth a laugh and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Oh yeah, you'll be challenged. Now let's go meet the rest of the gang."


	2. Meet the Romantic Comedy

"We'll have to stop by the security post to get you a visitor badge. If you go anywhere else without one, I'll probably get in trouble." They walked back towards the entrance and headed for the security post. He slowly pushed the door open and peeked his head inside.

"Sergeant Germann? Can I get a visitor pass?" A large, blond-haired man seated in a swivel chair stood up and walked to the door.

"Did you get in trouble again, Jack?"

"What? No, no! I have---I mean Dr. Saroyan has a new intern. She needs a visitor badge."

"Alright. If you say so. Where's this intern?" The tall man, peered on either side of Jack

"Oh she's right here. Come here, Taryn. Dr. Taryn Wright, this is Sergeant Logan Germann." Taryn took several slow steps toward the door.

"Pleased to meet you, Dr. Wright. You can just call me Logan. I'm not in the army anymore. That was many many years ago. Jack just thinks it's funny."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Germann." Logan nodded and handed her a visitor badge. Taryn took a few steps away from the door and started to look around.

Logan leaned in close to Hodgins and whispered, "Was Mr. Germann even an option I gave? That makes me feel old."

"You are old, Sergeant. You're fifty-six. Taryn's trying to make a good impression. Just let her call you whatever."

"It's not a problem, Doc. Just saying."

"Have a good day, Sarge."

"You too, Jack." Hodgins was typically accustomed to being very apprehensive and suspicious around new employees. But for some reason with Taryn, he had taken very quickly to getting comfortable around her. Grabbing her shoulders to direct her places became somewhat of a game to him. Before he could grab her shoulders again, she swerved out of the way and look back at him to gauge his response.

"Come on, Miss Difficult. Let's go meet Dr. Brennan." A short walk from the security post and Hodgins was knocking on the door of Brennan's office. He waited a moment before knocking again. _That's weird. If she's not in her office, where is she? _Hodgins stood to the right of the glass door and after for a split second, he motioned for Taryn to join him. She took a step closer to the other side of the door.

"Dr. Hodgins, what am I supposed to be watching?"

"That, my friend, is Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth bickering." Hodgins looked pleased at what he was seeing and he winked at Taryn. Taryn looked confused at Hodgins' excitement.

"Just wait. You'll understand in a minute." Hodgins rapped on the glass door very hard. Booth looked over and saw Hodgins. He smiled a little and came quickly to the door.

"Hodgins. Good timing. Bones says that Russ wants me to be his best man at his wedding. I'm just not real keen on this whole thing."

"The whole wedding thing? Booth, you are all about marriage and wedding stuff. You had no problem being in my wedding---" Taryn tapped on his shoulder and interrupted.

"You are married, Dr. Hodgins??"

"No, I'm not. That's a long story for another day." Taryn's look of confusion only grew.

"Booth, I think you and Brennan should see Dr. Sweets about this one.

"I think Hodgins is right, Booth. Sweets would probably do something terrible to us in therapy if we don't talk to him about this in a timely manner." Brennan moved about two inches away from Booth's face and placed her index finger in the middle of his chest. "I told you, Booth. My first suggestion was that we talk to Sweets." Booth grabbed Brennan's hand and lowered it down.

"I don't believe I remember that suggestion." One more inch of their proximity was dissipated by Booth and he still had yet to release her hand.

"I said that maybe Sweets should observe our social interactions as we discuss the different sides to this argument." Brennan looked from Booth's chest back up to his face before sitting on her desk. The proximity widened considerably as Booth was now at different level than Brennan.

"Well, maybe if you spoke English to me, I would catch on quicker, Bones."

"I know you understand me, you just choose to choose what you want to hear selectively." Booth placed his hands on the desk on either side of Brennan's legs.

"And so if I do?" Their banter stopped as both stopped and were attempting to stare one another down.

"Dr. Brennan, I brought our new intern to meet you." Slightly embarrassed, Brennan got off the desk and walked over to Taryn. She extended a warm hand of greeting.

"Welcome to the Jeffersonian. I am Dr. Temperance Brennan and this is Special Agent Seeley Booth. I am the head of the forensic anthropology unit here and Agent Booth is our FBI consult. I offer my services to assisting the FBI in properly identifying and collecting human remains and anthropologically analyzing them to give a proper report of criminal activity, if present."

"What she means to say, Doctor, is that she is very smart and she helps the FBI by identifying bodies." Taryn's look of confusion finally turned to smile and a nod.

"That's what I said, Booth."

"OKAY, moving on, Bones. So, you are?" Booth reached his hand out and shook Taryn's hand.

"I am Doctor Taryn Wright. I have a doctorate in microbiology and am interning here at the Jeffersonian while I gain my doctorate in entomology."

"A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Wright. I look forward to working with you."

"Nice to meet you, Taryn. Can I call you Taryn?"

"Of course, Agent Booth."

"Well, Dr. Wright, we have to get to work on our first set of cases for the day, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut our introduction short. I hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Thanks guys." Hodgins smiled a teethless smile and turned Taryn to walk out the door.

"So, do you understand now??"

"It's like watching a romantic comedy."

"Exaaactly. See, I knew you were smart. We'll go meet Angela now. You'll like her."

"Wait, you were doubting my intelligence, Dr. Hodgins?" She stopped and turned around to face him. Hodgins grabbed her shoulders again, which seemed to amuse Taryn.

"I didn't say that. Let's go." He turned her around again and they walked leisurely to Angela's office.


End file.
